Commodore 64 an Old Computing System Still Being Used in The World

Commodore 64

Internal view of Commodore 64

To date there are two known places where this aged king is still being used.

Grand Rapids, Michigan

A 30 year old computer Commodore 64 is still being used to control the heat and air conditioning systems of 19 public schools in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The Commodore 64 was installed in 1980s in the school system and is still running a unique 1,200 bit per second.
For now-a-days it’s antique but at the time of release it’s mouse keyboard and monitor were considered cutting-edge technology. The computer was purchased with the money from an energy bond and replaced one that was as large as refrigerator.

“It’s a very unique product,”

said Grand Rapids Public Schools Maintenance Supervisor Tim Hopkins.

“How it runs, the software that it’s running, is unique to Commodore.”

The Commodore 64 is responsible of controlling boilers, fans, and pumps and it monitors the temperature in each building. All these function were programmed over a quarter-century ago and whenever there’s a need of change the school district actually calls in the original programmer (he still lives in the neighborhood).

The system operates wirelessly with the help of radio frequency that sends signals to each building receives status reports within seconds, Hopkins said.

And here’s the rub: If that 30-year-old computer decides to stop working, each building’s climate would need to be adjusted manually.

Commodore 64 has been very loyal to the Grand Rapids School District but officials are considering an upgrade to a newer system that will cost almost $2 million.

Gdansk, Poland

We know small businesses around the world uses a bit old technology but a auto repair shop that is still rocking a Commodore 64. Yes! it’s hard to imagine that you can get something done with the hardware which is 30 years old.

Commodore 64 Hardware

Commodore 64 was released 30 years ago and it’s clocked at 1 MHz and have 64 kilobytes of RAM. It was discontinued in 1994.